Dynamics 365 Monthly Update-January 2018

Featured News

Scheduling the Microsoft Dynamics 365 (online) version 9.0 Update

Here is some information to help customers prepare for updating their existing Dynamics 365 (online) organizations to Dynamics 365 (online) version 9.0:

What you need to know about the customer-driven update process:

Flexible choices: You can schedule your updates to Dynamics 365 (online), version 9.0 on any day, including weekends. Please remember that opportunities to schedule an update is limited to available openings. Update slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Scheduling an update: Scheduling an update is available now and the updates will occur from February 20th through August 20th. This will give you up to six months to complete the update to the newest release of Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Flexible testing: Administrators will be able to schedule updates to sandbox instances prior to production instances. You can easily see the Sandbox and Production update schedules in a single view within the Dynamics 365 Administration Center.

Keep your organization informed: Administrators can select recipients to receive notifications about updates in the Dynamics 365 Administration Center. See Send email notifications to multiple recipients for more information. The recipient does not have to be an administrator to receive notifications and no additional licenses are required.

Get yourself ready for the update:

1. Get familiar. Stay up to date with What’s new for the complete list of capabilities and services. Please refer to Read Me for more information about update requirements, known issues and possible workarounds.

2. Get prepared. Read about Managing updates.

3. Get engaged. Your partner and Microsoft are here to help you be successful. See What’s new for developers.

Note: Dynamics 365 Government and Dynamics 365 Germany are not included as part of this announcement. The availability of version 9.0 for these customers will be announced later.

Continued support for Outlook add-in (Dynamics 365 for Outlook)

In June 2017, Microsoft announced the deprecation of Dynamics 365 for Outlook (also known as the “Outlook add-in”) and the plan to replace it with Dynamics 365 App for Outlook. The deprecation announcement meant that Dynamics 365 for Outlook would continue to be supported until it was removed in Dynamics 365 version 10.0.

Since this announcement, Microsoft has received overwhelming feedback from customers, partners, and the Dynamics community around the need for the Outlook add-in. Additionally there are some feature gaps in Dynamics 365 App for Outlook which prevent it from being a viable replacement for the Outlook add-in. As a result, Microsoft is reversing the deprecation of Dynamics 365 for Outlook.

This announcement means that Microsoft will continue to release Dynamics 365 for Outlook with new versions of Dynamics 365. As a result, customers upgrading to a new version of Dynamics 365 will have the same Outlook integration experience as in previous versions.

For more information, view the announcement on the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Team Blog.

Preparing for a new era in privacy regulation

On May 25, 2018, a European privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is due to take effect. The GDPR imposes new rules on companies, government agencies, non-profits, and other organizations that offer goods and services to people in the European Union (EU), or that collect and analyze data tied to EU residents. The GDPR applies no matter where you are located. New GDPR white papers are now available that provide details on how Microsoft Dynamics applications can be an important part of the journey toward GDRP compliance. The currently available white papers are for the Customer engagement applications (Dynamics 365 for Sales, Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, Dynamics 365 for Field Service, and Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation). Go to http://aka.ms/gdprdynamics365 to find the links to the available Dynamics 365 GDPR white papers and check back often to find new GDPR info and updates to existing white papers.

Visit the Microsoft Trust Center to learn more about how Microsoft’s products can help customers comply with the GDPR and to find resources like webinars, videos, white papers, FAQs about the regulation.

Updates & Releases

Updated SDK Tools required for Dynamics 365, version 9.0

As mentioned in a recent Blog and KB article, Dynamics 365 (online) version 9.0 no longer supports TLS 1.0 or 1.1. Customers with older versions of the Dynamics 365 SDK, will need to download the latest versions from NuGet:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/developer/download-tools-nuget

Older versions of SDK tools such as the Plugin Registration Tool, will not connect successfully to Dynamics 365 (online) version 9.0 organizations. Additional information can be found here on the Microsoft Support site.

Connect Dynamics 365 CRM for Outlook Client 8.x to Dynamics 365 9.x instances

With the release of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement version 9.0, older versions of TLS (1.0 and 1.1) connections will be blocked and only connections using TLS 1.2 will be supported. For customers connecting a Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Outlook client on version 8.x to a Dynamics 365 9.x instance, an update will be required for the clients.

Please refer to the following articles for details:

Updates coming to Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement connection security

“There is a problem communicating with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 server" error occurs when configuring Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Outlook

Missing App URL Suffix after importing app via a solution

Below is a documented issue a customer experienced shared to the Dynamics CRM in the Field:

Scenario: A customer created an application in Dynamics 365 8.2 and added an App URL Suffix to access the app directly at "https://<crm instance name>.crm.dynamics.com/Apps/<AppName>". Next, the customer wanted to move the app via a solution file to a higher instance (ie: Dev to Test). They created a solution file and added the App and sitemap to the solution. Then they exported the solution and imported into the higher instance.

Result: The application imported successfully. However, the App URL Suffix was blank and greyed out so the customer couldn’t add it back in the App Designer | Properties area.

This is “by-design” as there isn’t currently a way to detect if an App URL Suffix is already in use in the destination instance. When this is cleared, customers can still access their application by going to the My Apps area, but they can’t access it directly via the URL in the source instance.

A suggested resolution for this issue has been submitted to the Dynamics 365 Ideas site: https://ideas.dynamics.com/ideas/dynamics-crm/ID0003757 Customers can vote on this resolution for higher visibility to the product team.

Workaround: The good news is that there is a workaround that exists in both Dynamics 365 8.2 and v9.0 today. Customers can go to the My Apps area (https://<crm instance name>.crm.dynamics.com/Apps) | Locate your App | Select “Manage Roles” | Expand “App URL Suffix”. From there you can enter the desired URL in the destination instance, save and publish. This will allow access directly to the app from the URL again.

Voice of the Customer Service version 9.0.1027.16

Voice of the Customer for Dynamics 365 version 9.0.1027.16 is live on all Geos. This version of Voice of the Customer is compatible with Dynamics 365 version 8.2 and later.

New and updated features include:

· The reliability and experience of survey delete operation are improved. All the dependent entities of a survey are deleted when the survey is deleted.

· Customers can now repair or restore the Voice of the Customer configuration if it is accidentally deleted or misconfigured.

Resolved issues include:

· The tooltip of a question for a few languages (ex. Chinese, Russian, Farsi, Arabic) was not translated properly.

· The field names in survey response mapping and workflows does not match.

· The survey entity interface is not translated properly in French locale.

For more information, see What’s new in Voice of the Customer version 9.0.1027.16.

Microsoft Social Engagement 2018 Update 1.1

Microsoft Social Engagement 2018 Update 1.1 is now available.

New and updated features include:

· Improved accessibility across all interfaces to include keyboard navigation, screen reader support and overall improvements to the user experience.

· Administrators can now remove recipients from alerts that were configured by other users

· Changes for author information from Facebook pages to support updated API

For more information, see What’s new in Microsoft Social Engagement 2018 Update 1.1.

Field Service and Project Service Automation Update 5

The latest update to the Field Service and Project Service Automation solutions for Dynamics 365 version 8.2 is now available. This update includes improvements to quality, performance, and usability, and is based on customer feedback and requests.

Field Service enhancements (7.2.0.43)

Resolved issues include:

· Users with an administrative license type that own records received an error about privileges when upgrading from Dynamics 365 8.1 to 8.2

· Option to disable Address Suggestions doesn’t work

· Unable to create contact, opportunity, lead, account, or case entities in an updated organization

· When editing any field on a product receipt, the user sees the error message: System status can't be changed manually to products received or billed

· Cannot partially receive a purchase order product

Project Service Automation (v1.2.3.16) Enhancements

Resolved issues include:

· Contract line detail updates only display after refreshing the page

· Time entry date is set to the next day after the user saves or refreshes, if the user's timezone zone is far in the future (UTC+13 or UTC+14)

· Expense_Amounts lose decimal precision when the decimal separator is not a period (.)

Universal Resource Scheduling Enhancements

Note: Improvements and bug fixes for Universal Resource Scheduling apply to Field Service and Project Service Automation as well as to other schedulable entities in the Sales or Service applications.

Resolved issues include:

· Lookup selectors render incorrectly on screens with lower resolutions or when browser zooming is enabled

· Can’t create a booking alert if user is under a child business unit

· Can't book a schedulable entity that has no requirement

For more information, review the Release Notes for Field Service and Project Service Automation Update Release 2 post in the Dynamics 365 Team blog.

Dynamics 365 Digital Assistant Experiences

Microsoft is discontinuing the current Cortana integration preview feature that was made available for Dynamics 365. The focus will be on building a new long term intelligent solution experience, which will include Cortana digital assistant integration. The end result will be a robust and scalable digital assistant experience across all the Dynamics 365 offerings, to include natural language integration for customers and partners across multiple channels.

Training Corner

Features list for Dynamics 365 (online)

To review the list of features that are available for Dynamics 365 (online) and to access the complete list of online vs. on-premises features of Dynamics 365, review the following article on the Dynamics 365 Documents site.

Microsoft AppSource for Dynamics 365 (online)

Dynamics 365 online customers have the ability to add tailored solutions to their instances via AppSource. Customers can find top business solutions for their industry created by Microsoft and select partners. Apps include a try before you buy option and trusted Microsoft partners are standing by to assist with implementation.

For information on how it works, take a look at this tour.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Webinar Series

Join the Microsoft Dynamics team to learn how the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement solutions can revolutionize your customers’ digital transformation. In this webinar series, attendees will learn how to position Microsoft’s business solutions and differentiate their organization from the competition.

Upcoming Topics

· Understanding Dynamics 365 Add-Ons (Relationship Sales, PowerApps, CDS, etc…)

· Delivering a sizzling demo

· Dynamics Partners’ Resources/Pricing & Licensing

· Enhancing Microsoft Dynamics 365 with Azure + Intelligence (Bots, AI capabilities, etc.)
Leveraging Azure IaaS with Dynamics 365

Register now: https://aka.ms/microsoft-dynamics-365-webinar-series

Plan to attend Showcasing Dynamics 365 Demos

Note: This event requires a login to CustomerSource/PartnerSource

As a follow up to the November 2017 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Blitz, the Showcasing Dynamics 365 Demos will be provided on February 12th at 8am and 8pm PST. We’re excited to share the demo strategy and resources as well as showcase the great innovations in Dynamics 365. Subject matter experts will be on hand to answer questions and on-demand sessions will be made available following the live-streamed event.

The complete agenda will be available soon along with registration information. Follow up with your Microsoft Account Manager for more details.